Making Your Visitors Feel Accepted and Expected
TEASER
In this episode of the Church Helper Podcast, we're looking at how to find out if your church is as welcoming a place as you likely feel it is!
Sometimes we can all be blind to some of the everyday things in our churches that don't help others feel like they're a part of the family. So, If you want to make sure everyone who walks through your physical doors or into your online community feels like they're at home, then stick around because the Church Helper Podcast starts right now.
INTRO
Hey there, and welcome to another edition of the Church Helper Podcast. Our Mission here at Church Helper is to help churches make every decision on purpose. My name is Mike, and I'm excited to help you and your church today, so let's get into it by taking a bit about hospitality.
HOSPITALITY
Church hospitality continues to be a conversation that church leaders and elder boards ask me about fairly regularly. As congregations continue to shrink and more churches close each year, leaders continue to look inward to see what they can do better.
They're asking questions like :
How can we make first-time guests feel welcome?
How can we encourage them to come back?
How do we make sure our back door isn't as wide open as our front door?
And, the last year and a bit amidst a pandemic changed hospitality strategies a little, but the essential parts, whether in person or online, are pretty similar.
One of the most interesting things that I've experienced is that usually, hospitality is an area that churches assume they've got covered.
They already have a visitors table, a greeter at the door and a welcome card in every pew. Online there are links in your youtube description, a call to action for someone new to like the Facebook page or an email address if someone new has any questions.
And even though some of these strategies might seem "new," it's really just the same strategy in a different place. Asking someone to "like you" on Facebook or Instagram is the same as asking someone to walk over to your welcome table. Part of the message you're sending is, "if someone new would like to feel welcome, they need to make an effort to come to us and say hi. We sometimes forget that they've already done that by walking in the building or signing on to an online event or service.
And the "come to me" approach might have worked 15 years ago, but it's just not making the grade today.
In an interview on the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast, Christine Birch (Connections Director at Connexus Church) said:
" people maybe assume in a small church that community will just happen, but no matter the size of the church, it takes hustle and it takes intentionality. I think first thing, no matter what your size is, we just have to make sure that we’re posturing oursevlves so that a new guest feels forst of all expected and then accepted once they have identified themselves. From and expected point of view, what are you doing intentionally to let guests know that you were hoping they’d be there today,…then accepted are you fostering a culture where people, regardless of their background or their faith journey, whether it exisits or not, do they feel like maybe someday i could feel at home here?
For me, examining this quote shows two things a church should be asking itself when it approaches hospitality.
Question One: Do you think your guests feel expected?
And Question Two: Do you think your guests feel accepted?
These two questions change the conversation regarding church hospitality, so let's talk about each one briefly.
#1 MAKE THEM FEEL EXPECTED
Consider how you make first time guests, whether in-person or online, feel welcome and EXPECTED by asking yourself or your hospitability team some of these questions:
For In-Person Gatherings, you could ask:
Are the signs outside our building easy to follow?
Will they direct guests to the right door?
Is the parking lot easy to navigate?
Where are your greeters positioned?
Do greeters at the door have the correct information and know-how to direct or guide first-timers around the building?
For Online Gatherings or Events, you could ask :
Are Additional links online easy to find?
Here's a huge one - Is there someone from the church, live in your YouTube or Facebook chat while the service is happening?
Does the website cater to newcomers or insiders?
Do you follow up with comments on social media posts you generate?
When you see someone new log on, do you say, "oh, that's someone new!" or do you get into the chatbox and say "hi" to that person right away?
These questions might seem a little simple, but check out these quotes' ministry leaders I've talked to, specifically here about in-person gatherings. This leader said:
"A couple of years ago, I began to notice a few new families with kids sitting upstairs in the sanctuary. After asking a few questions, I realized that none of our greeters were directing them or even encouraging them to visit our Sunday school rooms because none of the greeters knew where these rooms were! There was even one Sunday that a new guest asked about programming for children and the response they got was, "I think the kid's rooms are upstairs, but I'm not sure. But they weren't upstairs. They were downstairs and had been for years!"
Another leader told me this:
"When people arrive at our church on a Sunday morning, they have to climb about 15 steps to get to the top where the greeting team is waiting to shake their hand… I guess it can be a bit intimidating."
These types of quotes and have an impact when looking at online ministry too. The online equivalent of 15 stairs to a greeter is five or six online action steps before someone engages with them or says hello.
So we need to think about what visitors are experiencing. And here, in June 2021, we're about to experience a season where some people might have found out about faith online during the pandemic and are looking for an in-person community. It's essential to make sure that if your church is the one they choose to try out, that you're ready for them and that they feel like you were expecting them to be there.
#2 MAKE THEM FEEL ACCEPTED
Once you've considered ways you can make first-time guests feel expected, you can think about what is sometimes the more difficult challenge - making them feel accepted and genuinely welcome in your building or your online community.
Remember, many new visitors, especially male, millennial and gen-z visitors, will feel uneasy or anxious about coming to church for the first time. Preconceived ideas about the church will have them on high alert. So how can you help people feel accepted?
Consider these questions:
For In-Person Services
Do greeters engage visitors with more than just a friendly handshake and simple "good morning"?
Do you have friendly church members who may look out for and even sit with new visitors for their first time?
Is your service structure insider focused or new-guest focused?
Are the words or phrases in your service words that should be defined or explained for new people?
Will visitors feel underdressed when they attend your service?
Is your congregation truly welcoming or simply tolerant towards new visitors?
For Online Services
Are you intentionally reaching out to someone you don't recognize the user name of?
Are you giving regular advice or encouragement for people to connect with you online?
Are you looking at your social media accounts for new followers and subscribers you don't know and sending them a personal message?
You and your team should brainstorm ways you can make new visitors feel truly welcome in your church. I'd give you some more ideas, but sometimes when a team comes up with it together, they're more overall buy-in, so for today, I'm just happy to get the conversation started.
TAKE THE NEXT STEP
Lastly, here are three easy ways you can start approaching hospitality with more intention and purpose this week:
Listen to the full Carey Niewhof Leadership Podcast Episode on Hospitality by using the link in the description below
Start a conversation with someone in your church about hospitality right away.
Connect with us at Church Helper to see how we can be a part of your solution!
Let's find ways to make people feel expected and accepted together!
OUTTRO
Hopefully, today's podcast helped you up your online or in-person hospitality game at your church. Make sure you like and subscribe to the podcast or our YouTube channel, and if you think someone needs to hear this content today but aren't a person of the internet, you can go to our website churchhelper.ca/podcast, to print out a full transcript of today's episode.
Make sure you go back and check out our series that just finished called "Get to Know You Staff" – it was all about how to help Elders and Staff empathize with each other better so that they can be a great team.
If you've ever got any questions, please reach out to us through email at hello@churchhelper.ca or go to the Get Help Today tab of our website.
Thanks for taking a few minutes to help your church make every decision on purpose today. I'm Mike, and I'll talk to you again real soon.
